One of the recurrent issues / questions we get on this board relates to the amount of one's tithing with respect to getting a temple recommend to attend family sealings (temple marriages) and to keep peace with more believing spouses. The link above is to instructions for paying the church directly by check, wire transfer or in kind donation, allowing one to pay tithing without divulging the actual amount to a bishop or branch president.

Paying tithing directly to LDS Church Headquarters in SLC is convenient for those who don't want their bishops questioning the amount of tithing donations. Send contributions to SLC at 10% of your annual increase (or what you can afford) and your bishop doesn't need to see your totals. You can tell your bishop you are a full tithe payer for purposes of obtaining at temple recommend if you want/need one or to keep peace with TBM partners.

Last edited by Dathon on Tue Mar 22, 2011 2:56 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Kudos to Zippy for pointing out that the link needed to be posted in a sticky note to make it easy to find.

_________________I say there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of the universe. -Frank Zappa--I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken. - Oliver CromwellI may be mistaken too. Shhh, it happens.

I hinted at this in a previous post but I think I will make December "Pay Your Tithing Directly to HQ Month." I plan to ask all the NOMs to be sure to attend SS and RS/EQ during the month when tithing will be one of the lesson topics. During the lesson the goal will be to say something like this: "Many people are reluctant to pay a full tithing because doing so results in the Ward Clerks, Bishopric, Stake Presidency (am I forgetting anyone) to know their annual salary. Many people don't know you can pay your tithing directly to the LDS church. Paid this way, the Ward and the Stake receive notice only that you have paid tithing not how much you paid. If anyone is interested I can give you the information after class."

One of the recurrent issues / questions we get on this board relates to the amount of one's tithing with respect to getting a temple recommend to attend family sealings (temple marriages) and to keep peace with more believing spouses. The link above is to instructions for paying the church directly by check, wire transfer or in kind donation, allowing one to pay tithing without divulging the actual amount to a bishop or branch president.

Paying tithing directly to LDS Church Headquarters in SLC is convenient for those who don't want their bishops questioning the amount of tithing donations. Send contributions to SLC at 10% of your annual increase (or what you can afford) and your bishop doesn't need to see your totals. You can tell your bishop you are a full tithe payer for purposes of obtaining at temple recommend if you want/need one or to keep peace with TBM partners.

I finally set myself up for this a few weeks ago and made my first contribution this week. One reason it took me so long was that I kept losing the info and having to do a "tithing" search, so this should be helpful to lots of folks. Thanks, Dathon.

Yea, I remember a counselor some years back, looking at my figures and mumbling to me when I asked him to print out a donation statement for taxes, that it didn't look right. I don't anyone seeing or judging our income based on donations. It is none of their business, I was the only one paying tithing anyway then and it was a full tithe. I no longer believe in tithing, but giving free will offerings instead.

BTW, my current bishop told me about this, and way before I became a member of the ward as I had a hard time, mailing my son's missionaries payments to a bishop, that I didn't trust at the time. I would stick them under the door, so was happy to learn about this route as an option.

_________________Our deepest wishes are whispers of our authentic selves.
We must learn to respect them.
We must learn to listen.

My bishop actually told me that he paid tithing to church headquarters because he did not feel comfortable having people in the ward knowing his income. He suggested that I do the same if I wish and I never had to show him my statement in tithing settlement. This is the only way to go in my opinion....if I ever started paying again I would do it this way again.

While traveling through NOMhood I was excited to find out about this option. We are pretty well off, financially, and we had always been full tithe payers. It would have been very obvious to the BP if we cut back or didn't pay tithing at all. But, once I admitted to myself that I no longer believed, I just couldn't bring myself to continue to pay tithing.

We usually paid our tithing once a year, so that bought me some time. My plan was to make a small payment directly to the COB prior to tithing settlement so that our BP would not question anything. We were still in the process of figuring out how to disengage. We weren't sure if we would continue to attend as covert NOMs for months or years, but I knew that we would no longer be forking over thousands of dollars. But, I never got around to making a payment, even after I set everything up with the COB. We quit attending a few months later.

Tithing is one of those very obvious signs of who is a TBM and who is not. It is pretty easy to use tithing amounts to calculate someone's income. This option completely takes this off the table (as it should be) and puts the member back in control. It is unfortunate that more members don't know about this option.

_________________"Do something. If it works, do more of it. If it doesn't, do something else."
-Franklin D. Roosevelt

I have a strong and firm testimony that this is an effective way to pay tithing. Against my best advice DW decided to reactivate her TR. She sailed thru the interviews and is now a card carrying member.

If you don't mind making a phone call the number is 801-240-2202. When I called, an eager young man took my email address, no question asked and he had emailed me the forms before we'd hung up.

If there was a way to post word documents; I'd do that. I saved the forms and have sent them to several friends and family members who, although not NOM, are thrilled to be able to use technology to pay tithing. Not to mention keeping their income private too, I'm sure.

I discussed this with DH's former counselor and he said he was surprised not more people know about it. I suggested it would save bp counselor and clerk alot of after church time if more members paid that way but he said it would reduce the visiting in the clerk's office. This may have been his favorite job a BP counselor: to visit with all the ward members waiting to see DH while counting donations.

_________________This was an answer that would satisfy people that didn't think very much, but a very inadequate answer for a thinking man. B.H. Roberts

Faith is belief in things which are not seen which are true, not in things which are verifiably false. Chocmool

I've turned into the Board "pay your tithing direct" missionary. I sent the following message to a good friend of mine from an old neighborhood.

Quote:

XXX,

I've been meaning to e-mail you about this. On of the things I didn't like about living in the XXX Ward was that when I paid tithing the clerk, bishopric and probably others (all neighbors) knew my tithing level and thus my income. For those members like me worried about privacy the church allows you to pay directly by check to headquarters. At the end of the year, they send you a tax statement summarizing your payments. For the ward/stake, they send a statement that only says whether you paid tithing - not the amount. I started this last year and it worked great. I paid fast offering directly to the bishopric as usual. I paid my tithing directly to HQ. Here's the link with the details:https://tech.lds.org/wiki/index.php/Don ... adquarters

If you search around on the site there is also a way to set up an account to pay electronically - I'm still a check guy myself.

And here's his response . . . .

Quote:

I had no idea this existed. I've always been private regarding my income. There's no reason for those guys to know how much I make. I'm an electronic payment guy myself. Thanks for sending. I'm going to use it.

Here's a link to a discussion about whether to pay on gross or net income (after common household expenses). When I first started paying on net (directly to HQ) I felt guilty that I was not doing what a "full tithe" payer claims they are doing. The essay found at this link along with the associated comments helped me to understand that "income" does not necessarily mean the money you bring home from your job.

my rationale for paying on my net income, is that there is no law that states that i must pay income tax, therefore my taxes are stolen from me straight out of my paycheck. i never see them anyways. i just pay 10% on my tax return instead.

_________________the First Cause of science and the self-existent Unity of philosophy are the God of religion

Here's a link to a discussion about whether to pay on gross or net income (after common household expenses). When I first started paying on net (directly to HQ) I felt guilty that I was not doing what a "full tithe" payer claims they are doing. The essay found at this link along with the associated comments helped me to understand that "income" does not necessarily mean the money you bring home from your job.

My 87 year old mother pays 10% of her income (everything that comes in her house, even the $70 a month her sister gives her to help with the gas bill) She pays 16% in total because she feels obligated to give something to each category on the donation slip. It kills me.

_________________This was an answer that would satisfy people that didn't think very much, but a very inadequate answer for a thinking man. B.H. Roberts

Faith is belief in things which are not seen which are true, not in things which are verifiably false. Chocmool

Thank to this forum for helping me get this setup. It works great and I'm looking forward to the tithing interview in December where I can just see he's going to ask "...is that all?"

My next challenge is getting my TBM DW to be fine with me cutting my donation down to a $1 a month!!! She can still donate, but I'm putting my money somewhere else where it can be used to help people who actually have a need!

_________________"The world would come to an end in two or three years","The state of New York would (probably) be sunk...","...many were converted before they saw the book..."

So for those who pay directly to the church, what do you tell your bishop? I assume they would ask or wonder why you do that.

"I prefer not to write checks." He doesn't need to know why you do it that way, but I realize that in Mormondom boundaries are not respected. "If the Brethren have set it up, it must be a true way to pay tithing, don't you think, Bishop?"

Of course you still have to write checks if you participate in fast offering but, if you choose to do that, you don't have to write a monthly check, you could do it annually or quarterly.

_________________This was an answer that would satisfy people that didn't think very much, but a very inadequate answer for a thinking man. B.H. Roberts

Faith is belief in things which are not seen which are true, not in things which are verifiably false. Chocmool

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